RE-THINK POT FARMING

Re: "Three years, 1,000 grow-ops gone."

B.C.'s marijuana grow operations are a direct result of marijuana
prohibition.

Legitimate farmers do not steal electricity to grow produce in the
basements of rented homes. If legal, growing marijuana would be less
profitable than farming tomatoes.

As it stands, the drug war distorts market forces such that big money
grows on little trees. Rather than continue to subsidize organized
crime, Canadian policy-makers should ignore the reefer-madness
hysteria of the U.S. government and instead to look their own Senate
for guidance.

In 2002, the Canadian Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs
concluded that marijuana is relatively benign, marijuana prohibition
contributes to organized crime, and law enforcement efforts have
little impact on patterns of use.

Robert Sharpe, Common Sense for Drug Strategy

Washington, D.C.